You don't need to tell a Cannuk about Traynor ;P - very familiar with those (they were made here, in Toronto, and new Traynors still are; very plentiful... in fact if anyone wants a Traynor I can totally hook you up with a better than average price - there's 2 YGL-3As at a local shop for pretty cheap and they always have a Bassmaster or 2 as well). The Bassmaster is not 90 watts (peak maybe, but not RMS, I'd think). It's a single pair of 6CA7s just like my Garnet (which I like the tone of a lot more - if the Traynor really is more than 50 watts RMS, they're pushing the power tubes too hard). Also no reverb. The Custom special is also familiar to me (had one for a bit), but no verb. The YGL-3As are in the running, but not my preference; I'll probably rent one from that shop to try and see as I never used one before, but I don't expect much tonal difference from the Custom or Bassmaster; luckily they appear to not be consignments and I know the proprietor.
I have been warned off changing my current 6CA7 based amp over to 6550 - that was my first idea (actually KT88s, which is what I asked about, but shouldn't make a difference) by my amp tech, who I've used forever and is really good; knows Canadian amps inside out. I don't remember the details but it was something to do with voltage (don't remember even if it was plate or whatever). Might not apply to other EL34 based amps, but I seem to recall that he said it would, depending on what voltages they were running. I do remember he said double check the power supply part of the schem and if the voltage is over/under X then no go, and he was right (about the voltages in there)
I considered the V4. I am hesitant because the stock power tubes won't be enough power (only 10-20 more watts; pretty insignificant) and I am not sure I dig 'the Ampeg sound' (based on using newer ss/hybrid "SVTs" a few times, which may not be fair - there's something about the midrange that I couldn't EQ away and it wasn't the cab - tried at least once each with a 15 and a 4x10). I am not sure I wanna go to the trouble of modding it for 6550s; not sure if it would be as involved as with my current Garnet. One thing I do like is that they either have a master volume or one can be easily added in the fx loop (pre out and pwr in) and they're relatively common around here. .... but I sold off all my vintage 12DW7s I had laying about
Amptech is making me hesitate on the HD130 front now too (I actually have a 115RH tho - upgraded the speaker to an EV and love the damn thing). I'll have to read that over a few times, but it sounds like it'd be easy enough to mod the reverb channel to be tonally the same as the non-reverb bass channel. But I wonder - what is it about the preamp you don't like - I am not looking for drive, but clean headroom (let the pwr section do the work) and tight ample bass; dark is OK, as is neutral, but bright is definitely not what I am after (makes things harder considering I am looking at geetar amps for the reverb). I do drive my current Garnet's pre a bit sometimes, but I am trying to move away from that. These tend to be a lot cheaper on ebay; not very common around here, though I do see them periodically so I could try one, eventually. ... so how do I tell if it's tube or ss driver? All the ones I have looked at (as far as I recall) have had a single 12A_7 in them - since the pre is ss if I see that then that's the one?
Anyway, thanks for the sugg; keep em commin.... my brain is being a bastard and keeps bringing me back to the Sunn 1200s tho. Completely irrational GAS pains. The only strike against it, aside from price, is lack of master volume, but I could live with it if it isn't an easy mod (considerring my previous statement of letting then pwr section do the heavy lifting).